MegaMan X Infinite Maverick Hunter
by KHMDarkness
Summary: An ancient machine has dropped from space and into the middle of Abel City, right after Sigma dropped the bombs on top of it. What's worse, when it arrives, it sucks the life out of Reploids it deems his enemy. Can X and Zero figure out what's happening?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

_**Crashing the Party**_

(Events happen after "The Day of Sigma".)

Floating in orbit around earth endlessly was what looked like a ball, looking like it could hold a person in it. It was black, blending in the ever lasting night of space while on the front of it was a red infinite sign (of the sideways eight). It has been there for countless years, ever so drifting... until, one even could be seen in space. Explosions were happening in a city, Abel City, killing countless people and reploids. Soon, it stopped, as the cries and panic of the citizens of the city were so loud, the ball picked them up.

The orb faced its front to the city, thrusters burning on its side to keep it still. The infinity sign began to glow a bright red as it began to drop from orbit, quickly entering the atmosphere. It began to heat up, looking like a falling meteor now. Faster and faster it dropped, air rushing against it until it was in sight of the city. Thrusters shot out from the front, making the bottom of the ball face the ground and slowed it down some. In less then a minute, it hit in the city, going inside a factory, causing the floor to crater in and to go through several floors.

"What the Hell!?"

Some factory Reploids were on the ground from the shock wave of the orb hitting the ground. When they got to their feet, they cautiously peered over into the crator.

"What... is that?"

"I don't know..."

"Looks like a ball..."

"Hey, what's that symbol on it?"

Everyone went quiet for a moment when a human came over.

"Hey... that's the... infinity symbol, right?"

"Yeah! That's it... but... what's a ball with a symbol on it doing crashing in the factory?"

They all jumped, hearing a loud hissing sound. Air was rushing out of the ball, lines showing on it. The front of it then seemed like it was "folding" back, looking like it was going to turn itself inside out. Then it stopped, the front of it open while the inside was totally dark. Everyone looked at one another, courious as to what was inside. They all then turned to the human, who shook his head.

"Oh HELL no! I've seen enough movies to know what will happen if I get close!"

Some of the Reploids gave chuckles, agreeing with him as the human continued.

"We should call the Maverick Hunters or something, in case there's a Maverick in there."

_**M.... Mav.... er..... Maverick.....?**_

"Oh? They are all busy from Sigma bombing the city!"

_**S.... Sig..... Sigma....?..... B.... Bombs?**_

Everyone was silent for a moment until a Reploid with green armor on with a stuck out lower metal chin rose his voice.

"I'll check... everyone just stay back..."

He began to trace down into the crater and stood in front of the ball. He leaned his head forward, trying to see in the dark...

_**Maverick.... Maverick?.... Maverick! MAVERICK!!!**_

A boney metal hand shot out of the darkness, the fingers going in the armor of the Reploid. He gasped, looking down... the hand looked like...

**"Maverick...."**

Wires shot out from the hand and dug into the Reploid. He began to cry out in pain, being lifted up in the air, then slowly and errirly, fell silent, his body hanging there, looking like all life was drained out of it. The boney hand dropped the body, falling onto its back. Everyone in the room backed up, their eyes locked to the ball. Slowly, two boney hands came out of the darkness and grabbed the edges of the opening, helping itself stand up... out came what looked like a metal skeleton, its chest area and stomach covered with a green, thick metal plate. It had red glowing eyes with the red infinity symbol on its forehead.

Everyone began to panic, rushing to see if there was an exit close... where their wasn't, the crator blocking the only one, and had knocked down the stairs. The skeleton looked up, its vision giving everything a red tint as he locked on to all of the Reploids.

**".... Mavericks....."**

It suddenly jumped up from the crater and landed on the stable flat ground, walking slowly toward a Reploid cowarding against a wall. He had thin red armor and a round helmet with a V on the forehead. The skeleton stabbed its hand into the Reploid's chest, wires coming out of the forearm of it and digging into the Reploid like the first. The metal skeleton tossed the body to its side, the Reploid's eyes wide and lifeless, the pupils so small it seemed like he had none.

The Skeleton turn to its left, seeing the other Reploids scurry around. On its head seemed like a helmet, but wasn't exactly the shape of one, and it could now see in all colors. It locked on to all of them, expect for one.

**"Mavericks....!"**

*******

The Skeleton now hand on a worn out cloak with a hood over its head. It tossed another body to the ground, a body of a female Reploid in pink armor. It turned its head to the last two Reploids and the human, all were on the ground in fear. The human begged...

"P-p-please... don't... kill us...."

The Skeleton's lock on traced over the Reploids and the human.

**".... You a**re not Ma**vericks.** A hum**an c**an't b**e one, and **the two **Reploid**s are innocent."

Some how, its conversation skills had increased, and its voice was changing. The Reploids and human gave a huge sigh, seeing the skeleton walk over to the ball it was first in. It raised its boney hand, which had what looked like melted metal on the back of the hand. The ball suddenly began to melt, looking like liquid mercury. It slowly drifting over to the Skeleton's feet, going into it. All that was left was an old chair with the impression of a skeleton sitting on it, and a disk drive in the arm of the chair.

As soon as the last of the liquid metal went into the Skeleton, the door that lead outside opened.

"Excuse us, we heard screaming and..."

It were two police Reploids at the door from the 17th Unit. They saw the bodies, the two Reploids and human still alive and against the wall. Then they saw what looked like a cloaked figured.

"HALT!"

The Skeleton scuffed at them.

"Like anyone **do**es th**at."**

It turned around and began to run, its metal feet clinking on the floor. It then bent down and jumped high, going through each floor and landed on the roof top. The police rushed over and looked up at the hole the Skeleton made, shocked at what they just saw. The one on the left reached up to the radio on his shoulder.

"Ummm... HQ? We have a problem..."

*****A few hours later...*****

There were a few ambulances outside of the factory, the surviving Reploids and human in one to rest and explain what they saw, their story shocking the ones questioning them. Barricades were made to make sure no one came in or out of the factory.

Inside were a large group of Reploids, investigating the events that had swiftly happened to them. None other then Zero was standing with his arms crossed at the edge of the crater the falling orb had made, a couple other Reploids checking the chair out. He was silent as they worked, then turned as he head the familiar footsteps a Reploid would make.

"Find anything out, X?"

X stopped beside him, looking down at the chair. He gave a sigh.

"Yeah... apparently, some sort of metal skeleton came out of the orb, which crashed in from space, and began to attack everyone."

Zero gave him a strange look.

"... what?"

X closed his eyes.

"Oh, it gets better. The survivers said that it would have some wires dig into the Reploids, and when they did, it seemed like their life was being sucked out of them."

Zero turned to the chair, silent.

"Zero... they said when he finished, he gained some metal on top of its bone... adn said that the only reason why they lived where because the thing said they weren't Mavericks..."

"Sir! We found something!"

Both X and Zero looked into the crater, seeing one of the people down there hold up what looked like a disk. They looked at each other, then both went down to the Reploid. X took the disk, looking at it from all angles. He brought his free hand up to the side of his head.

"Alia? Can you scan the disk from here?"

Her voice came up in his helmet as she scanned it.

"Umm... not much. All I can bring up is the name of the major file on it."

X turned to Zero, who also heard her.

"Well, it's a start to figure out what's happening. What's the file's name?"

Alia scanned the disk, then answered.

"Umm... Project Lemniscate... AHH!"

Zero brought his hand to his helmet too.

"Alia!? What is it!?"

There was silence from her end of the transmission. Zero and X turned to each other, shock on their faces.

"X!? Zero!? Are you there!?"

"Alia!?"

X gave a sigh of relief as Zero spoke to her.

"Yeah.. it's me."

"What happened!?"

"Well... a trojin was on the disk, as a security measure I think, so that no one without the proper pass code could see the data in it."

Zero glanced at the disk... it had an active Trojan on it? Usually, a Trojan could be able to destroy any computer, but...

"Alia, how did you delete the Trojan?"

She was silent for a few moments, checking her computer.

"It was an old style of Trojan... REALLY old..."

X looked up, a hand on his head.

"How old is it, Alia?"

Once again, she was silent, then she answered, shocked.

"I-it's over 300 years old!!!"

X and Zero looked at each other again.

"300... years old? Isn't that impossible!?"

X glanced at the disk again, deep in thought.

"I... don't know, Zero. We best take this back to HQ, so they can analyze the data on it."

Zero gave a nod, leading X outside to their bikes.

"So, X, what do you think is on the disk?"

X put the disk in his inventory and sat on his bike, putting his helmet on.

"I don't know, Zero... all of this doesn't sit well with me. What type of Reploid... what type of ANYTHING can do what this... _Skeleton _thing does? Jumping through five floors of concrete, being able to... do SOMETHING with those wires... and how could it move? The reports said it was a metal skeleton!"

Zero was silent as he got on his bike and strapped his helmet on.

"I doubt anything we know of... all I can say is to give Alia the disk, and to keep a look out for a metal Skeleton. Can't be that hard to find, could it?"

That made X grin, imagining a Metal Skeleton in the middle of a crowd like he was normal with a hat.

"Yeah, good point, Zero. Now..."

He turned his bike on and revved it.

"Race you there!"

He then took off, leaving Zero there to quickly turn his bike on.

"Hey! Cheater!"

He quickly followed him, their bikes echoing in the city...

_*****Meanwhile*****_

"N-no... please!"

A Reploid was crawling backwards in fear of something. He was in an ally way, dark enough where no one could see him. In front of him was what looked like a Maverick Hunter now. His armor was totally black, while the cloth was white. There where white gems on his forearms, and thrusters on the sides of his boots. His helmet fit perfectly on his head.... an infinity sign on the front of it, inside another gem, which was white also. His chest armor was thin, yet looked strong and sleek. His hands looked like X's and Zero's, white and gloved. His face made him look like he was 15, his eyes a dark blue, yet his expression was cold, harsh, and blank at the same time. His hair couldn't be seen, being in his helmet, if he had any that is.

He raised his hand up at the Reploid on the ground. Wires shot out and dug into him. He struggled, but to no avail as he fell into the same defeat as the others before him had. The Hunter dropped the Reploid's body to the ground, landing in a sicking bundle. He turned around and began to walk down deeper in the ally. Then stopped at the back of the buildings as the allys end, leaving you two ways to go. On his right were a gang on Reploid, all stumbling back from him... and a trail of bodies in his wake. A short Reploid, looking like a gangster from the 1970s, was pushed out of the group, shaking still as he caught the emotionless glance of the Hunter.

"P-please... don't..."

The Hunter turned away, his eyes closed.

"Don't worry, none of you aren't my enemy, so I shall not attack you..."

He turned and began to walk away when the same Reploid spoke up again.

"W-wait!"

He stopped and turned his head to him, waiting for him to continue. The Reploid gulped, and asked...

"What... is your name?"

The Hunter turned forward, silent for a minute as his memories rushed through his mind.

".......... I don't have one........"

He looked up at the night sky, the stars shining.

"But if you MUST label me with a name... then call me Lemniscate, Len for short..."

With that, Len dashed up the side of the building... and disappeared...

_**End of Chapter One...**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

_**Breaking and Entering**_

Zero and X parked their bikes in the bottom lot, then walked toward an elevator and got in. X pressed the button to go up while Zero leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. As the elevator rose, they both were quiet, lights flashing before their eyes from the elevator going up. Finally...

"X... a lot has happened recently..."

X turned to him, silent so he could let him talk.

"You think you can handle this new threat?"

He gave a nod, which made Zero turn away.

"No one would blame you... if you took some time off. What Sigma has done... he nearly killed us without any effort, and destroyed half of the city with those missles..."

Now X turned away as the elevator door opened to the HQ. Zero stood straight, then placed his hand on X's shoulder.

"X, if you think you'll be fine, then I'll trust you. There is no one else I trust more then you..."

"Zero..."

He gave a smile to X, walking into the room, X following close behind. The room was in the shape of a circle, computers going all around it. In the middle was a deck which could look down to see all the computer monitors at once. The roof was completely made of glass, letting in the sun's warm rays, which everyone enjoyed.

Zero and X went over to Alia, the main operator of the HQ. She turned in her chair, then gave a sigh.

"Good... you're both here..."

Zero raised an eyebrow.

"And why wouldn't we be here?"

"Well..."

She turned and looked down into her monitor, typing quickly.

"There's been an increase of Maverick attacks, according to yesterday's report. And with Vile's escape..."

X placed a hand on her shoulder, comforting her.

"Don't worry, Alia... we can handle ourselves in a fight."

She turned back to him with a small smile.

"Thanks, X..."

She turned back to her computer, typing some more... then she gave a loud gasp, loud enough so everyone went silent and looked at her. Zero looked at her with concern on his face.

"What is it, Alia?"

She gave a gulp, typing some more.

"W-well... remember the recent Maverick attacks that I told you had increased... well..."

She turned to both Zero and X, her eyes wide.

"... There were none from last night, and all the previous Mavericks were found... drained of life..."

The air in the room grew stale, X's voice barely breaking it.

"How... how many?"

Alia turned to her computer and typed a few numbers down. She gave a slow replie...

"... 1.... 156.... total...."

"Total as in injured and witnesses included?"

"No, Zero... 156 Maverick bodies found... in just one night..."

The air grew even more stale, silent for a few minutes as the news sunk in to everyone. Finally, X took out the disk and held it over to Alia.

"Here... try to see what's on this disk so that we might be able to find out more about it."

Alia turned and took the disk, then began to type in her computer again.

"I will in a minute... I want to make sure that, if there's another Trojan in this, it won't infect other computers if mine can't handle it."

There were a few clanks from inside the computer, wires disconnecting from other wires.

"In other words, I'm disconnecting everything from my computer."

After a minute, Alia pushed the disk in her disk drive, then began to type more.

"Wow... this really is old... apparently, the area it has been in all this time has kept it safe from everything..."

Something popped up on the screen, the words "Project Lemniscate." After a second, the name shrank and went to the upper left hand of the screen. Below in the left half appeared a metal skeleton with what looked like organs in the chest area. On the right side were four files, the names starts from top and ends at the Bottom...

"Process..."

"States..."

"Personal History of Subject..."

"Radar/Tracer..."

X and Zero took a good look at the skeleton on the left.

"So... that's our enemy..."

Alia typed some more in her computer.

"I'm going to go down the files one at a time... we are lucky it's in a language that we can understand."

She pressed enter, the file "Process" growing in size. Then a report came out, the date of it on the top, but no one knew what it meant.

"It... must be a date system they had used... huh? This is..."

X and Zero read the report over Alia's shoulder....

_"Our slow pace on working on the Subject has worked wonders. Not only is his body able to accept the advanced technology we are putting in him, but he also still EVOLVES! Before, he was just regular human bones! Now his bones are of the strongest metal I've ever seen! We've even tested how strong the metal is with a diamond saw... not even a scratch! Incredible! Our leaders are going to be SO pleased with this! Where everyone else had either gone insane or died, HE still goes on! The only draw back is his organs... they are the only thing keeping him alive, and they are out in the open. We got to keep in him a safe area where nothing can damage those organs until we can make some sort of device which can protect them..."_

Alia scrolled down the page, the report continuing, sounding like it was a little while later then the first...

_"An intruder had intercepted the base, a machine twice the size of a man and thrice the strength of a bull. It's clear that it was sent by our employer's enemies to destroy our Project... we watched as the two fought when it entered the Project's area. It was incredible... it was a shame we couldn't tape it, but just being able to see how our creation had fought the machine... and what it did to it was nothing short of even more evolution! Wires actually came out and dug into the machine's armor and actually DRAINED the life out of it. It's possible that, if he evolves enough, he won't have to use the wires, just his hands! What's more, as soon as it did, an armor plating formed around his chest area, protecting his organs from all harm and germs!_

_"The other scientists said that it was ready for combat at that second to our boss, a large man, yet wise. He liked to hear the other's confidence, but I was happy to see him turn to me for my opinion. To me, he was ready, but I told him that I wanted to keep an eye on him for just a bit longer, incase there was a problem we haven't seen yet. After all, it would have been a large waste of money if our Project just died. Billions apon billions lost on our best chance..."_

Zero and X turned to one another, their faces blank.

"So... Zero, what does this mean..."

"Guys... it's not over... there's one last report... you might want to read it, too."

They turned back to the monitor, reading...

_"THOSE FOOLS! What were they thinking!? All this time, all this money, wasted and spent just so that we can hide a nuclear weapon in his organs and send him to the President!? Outrageous! With his skills and abilities, he can take out a whole country by himself!_

_"I have no other choice but to send him to space... the other thing we have that can send him there is my own creation. Luckily, I've been thinking about giving it to the Project for easier transportation, but now I know that the Mercury Armor is best for the Project... He will be in space until the need for him comes... curse these Mavericks! Yes, Mavericks. Stupid name, huh? That's what they decided to call themselves, saying that, soon, their human bodies will one day become part machine. That might be possible in the FAR future, but not now..._

_"However, I will quickly change The Project's programming to target Mavericks, incase they somehow rule the earth... these fools... if they rule, then the whole human race is doomed... I'll be damned to let that happen without having an Ace against them!"_

"That's... it of the report...."

Everyone from the room was over by the monitor, reading along with Zero and X. X stood up, looking down at the ground.

"This Project.... was supposed to be a Maverick all along?"

Zero skimmed through some of the report quickly, making sure he got it.

"Apparently.. and one of the humans that made him found out what they were doing... I don't know if he found the error of his ways, it sounds like he thinks of the Project as a subject, like earlier in the report..."

Alia typed some in her computer, the next file, "States" growing on the screen. This time, the Skeleton stayed on the left hand of the screen, but lines were coming from it, all but one were full of question marks, the program unsure of what was updated in the skeleton. The only one that wasn't... was the listed number of how many times it had sucked the life out of a Reploid... and it continued to grow. Alia gulped as she watched it increase.

"212.... 213.... 214.... 215! He's doing it like they were nothing!... Huh? It stopped...."

The number did indeed stop, Zero and X looking at the screen, unblinking. Alia took that as her que to open the next file... "Personal History of the Subject."

Another report came up, but this time, a few pictures came up. The very first one shown a teen. He had dark brown hard and dark blue eyes. Next to it were his "States."

_"Name: Blake Washington_

_Age: 15_

_Sex: Male_

_Height: 5'10_

_Weight: 163 lbs_

_Background: Two parents, both killed by our Employer. Son was captured soon after. Had a sister, her present whereabouts unknown. School; Western High. Sport: Football._

As Alia scrolled down the page, it shown another picture... one when he was awake during sergery... (you can guess what's happening as you read on...)

_Process: Subject struggles greatly against us, but soon gave up when we just missed his artery in his leg when we removed his bone. He began to struggle again when we went for his eyes, but soon he seemed like he gave up, like the previous Subjects... but something about this boy is giving all the scientist hope that the Project will work..._

X turned away, his back toward the monitor. He felt ill, which was rare for a Reploid, since they didn't have stomachs. No... it wasn't like that... it's was more like he was sicken that humans would do this to other humans without care... Zero turned and put his hand on X's shoulder, just as sickened as he was. Alia turned, her face pale, trying to gather herself.

"X.... Zero.... there's one last file..."

They both turned back to the monitor as soon as they were able to, Alia opening the last file... "Radar/Tracer..."

As soon as the file opened, a large circle appeared on the monitor, then a line began to circle around them. A white dot was in the exact center. Alia drew her head back, typing some more in her computer. Zero was deadly still.

"X... you think the scientists would have put a tracer on their little Subject, in case it escaped...?"

X nodded, looking at the circle.

"I do... this must be like a sonar or something... sound waves being made, yet not hear-able to I guess any animal or Reploid..."

Zero started to reach up toward his back, for his sword.

"And... what do you think that white dot in the CENTER means?"

X was silent for a moment, then turned to Zero, his eyes wide. They both turned up as fast as they could... seeing Len, standing on top of the glass roof, glaring down at them all with his human dark blue eyes. He looked a bit different again, but only his helmet was. His dark brown hair was spiked back through an opening on the back of the helmet, his hair only a few inches long.

Len stomped his foot, shattering the glass, falling ontop of everyone, cutting a few. He slowly floated down onto the deck in the middle of the room, glancing around, then locked eyes on Zero and X...

"Mavericks... you are not. But I want that disk back."

He held out his hand, expecting them to give him it. Instead, Zero leaped for him with his saber raised, giving a cry as he slashed down... into the railing. He looked around, trying to find Len... then looked up. He was hanging upside down with his feet on what was left of the glass roof. He glared down at Zero, ready to fight with his fists...

X raised his arm, turning into his buster, and shot at Len. He jumped down to the ground, landing on the railing, then stepped back, dodging slashes from Zero's saber. Each one Len took a step back until he touched the wall with his back. Zero took this chance and stabbed forward... he missed by an inch, half of the saber in the wall. Then Len grabbed Zero's arm, holding him there.

"Damn!"  
He raised his other arm, which formed into his buster. Len reached out and grabbed it with his free hand, making it aim up. Zero had his teeth bared, grunting as he tried to get out of Len's grasp... then a smile grew on Len's face, wires coming out of his arms and into Zero's arms. X dashed over and raised his buster, but didn't have a clear shot.

"ZERO!!!"

The red color on Zero's armor began to turn grey, his body going limp. He fell to a knee, his vision fading fast, looking up to Len and his wires. He fell to the side, the wires letting go of him.

"YOU BASTARD!!!"

X had a charged shot ready, firing it at Len when he had the chance. Len's eyesgrew slightly bigger, dashing to his left with blinding speed. He stumbled from it, then gained his balance. He looked at his hands, opening and closing them as X aimed at him, ready to fire the second he would move from that spot.

Len opened and closed his hands, then gave a small smile, raising his left hand toward X. His arm then quickly turned into a buster, looking familiar to Zero's, but was black. X stared at him in shock, not believing what he was seeing until Len shot at him, a shot exactly like Zero's... X dashed to his left and jumped in the air. Len dashed the same way he did in the air, spun in the air, and kicked X in his stomach, sending him flying into the wall, cracking it. Len landed on the floor while X slowly slid down the wall and on top of the computers... Len took this chance to jump on the computers, crouched down in front of X on his eye level. They had their eyes locked onto one another until X gave a gasped, Len's wires digging into his legs. As the same as Zero, the color began to drain from his blue armor until X was laying on the monitors motionless...

Len gave a sigh, getting of the computers and on the ground. He looked at his right arm, turning it into a buster, now his own. It had the same basics as any other buster, but had a purple blast when it fired a charged shot. He looked at his new buster for a moment, then brought his hand back out... seeing everyone else staring at him at the other end of the room, looking like they were pinned there by him. Len just turned and began to walk toward Alia's computer... then stopped, seeing Alia in his way, her arms spread out to block him. His colds eyes glared at her, emotionless, giving her a chill up her spine.

"Why.... why did you kill Zero and X!?"

She then pointed her hand at him, forming her buster, pointing at him.

Len gave no answer, silent as he continued to glare at her... in truth, in his mind and programming, he was confused... was she a machine? She wasn't a Maverick, he knew that... but in his programming, weren't half machine, half humans Mavericks? But she was good... his targeting system proved that. No error in her system... nothing... same with the rest.

"WHY!?"

Len gave a small blink, coming back to reality from his thoughts. Right before Alia could ask again...

"I did not kill them..."

Len's voice seemed to have made Alia jump. His tone was somewhat machine-like...

"B-but you did to them what you-"

"I did not."

He motioned to Zero and X with a small shrug.

"All I did was drain the energy out of them and copy their weapons onto myself. Just give them energy and they will be fine. As I've said before..."

Alia slightly lowered her buster, staring at him, a little shorter then she was.

"I don't kill Reploids..."

A word he learned from the first one he caught, gaining his some of his intelligence. He took a step forward again, making Alia raise her buster higher again.

"Can I have the CD now?"

"CD...?"

She blinked, then gave a start.

"The disk?..."

She took a few steps back to her computer, which made Len stop walking. She reached down and grabbed the disk out of her computer, then held it out for him with her free hand. Len reached forward and took it, looking at it to make sure it was really the disk.

"T-there... now leave!"

Len turned around, his eyes moving as if he was reading the data off of the back of the disk. His eyes were slightly wider when me finally moved.

"...."

He scratched a part of the disk, then tossed it back to Alia, who barely caught it.

"You can have it..."

Without him knowing, his left hand was shaking severely. When he noticed, he lifted his hand up and looked at it.

"What... is this...?"

Alia lowered her buster as everyone stared at him, not knowing what he will do next. She took a step forward.

"Project Lemniscate...?"

Len lifted his head slightly.

"Call me Len, for short...."

Alia gave a nod, turning her buster back to her hand.

"No... it's Blake, isn't it...?"

Len turned to her, his face blank.

"Bl.... Blake....?"

After a moment of silence, Len clutched his head with his hands, falling to his knees, gasping in pain as memories rushed to his mind...

_Two groups of teenagers was playing with his friends on the football field, playing tackle football. The memory was focused on the teen with the short dark brown hair and the dark blue eyes. His memories flashed to him being on the bottom of a dog pile, everyone on top of him while the teen had the ball, everyone laughing, the word "owned" running across his mind._

_Next was him looking in the sky toward his house, seeing smoke... next thing he knew, he was, he was in a burning building, staring down at his parents and older brother, their throats literly ripped out, while his baby sister was missing. Then a black bag went over his head, blinding him..._

_He was on a table, screaming while knives cut deep into him, blood running thick down the table as they put chips and more technology in him..._

Len was gasping for air on his hands and knees, eyes blood shot. A hand touched his shoulder, making him turn around and scurry backward. He saw Alia with her hand outstretched, then brought it up to her chest, a worried look actually on her face for him. Len panted, then looked down at himself... what was he feeling? How could he feel...? What... was he...?

"Blake....?"

Len jumped back and onto the wall, sticking to it.

"N-no... it's... it's Len! For Infinity!"

With that, he dashed up the wall and out the broken glass ceiling, disappearing from veiw and into the sunset... Alia bent down and picked up the disk he was left, then up at the ceiling, thinking as the medical Reploids rushed over to X and Zero...

***

Len was jumping from roof to roof, panting, then stopped, clutching his chest, feeling pain in his... heart? Wasn't he a Reploid? A Maverick Hunter, as he would be called in this time? And what was with those memories... he did not know... He then suddenly felt his eye lids getting heavy for... sleep? Did Reploids sleep? No, don't they go in a pod to recharge or something? Or was that only to heal? Whatever the reason, he dashed down off of the roof, dropping 50 feet and landing in a park, blending in perfectly in the night time darkness. He jumped up onto a branch and sat down on it, his back against the tree itself.

_I'll.... make that new weapon I got from the disk tomorrow... right now, whatever is trying to make my eyes close seems natural, so I'll let it..._

He closed his eyes... and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep...

_**End of Chapter Two...**_

**_(Note from Arther: _**Lemniscate means Infinity, which comes from the Latin _lemniscus_, meaning "ribbon". Found on Wikipedia, in case you want to read more about it.)


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

_**The Human Element**_

Len slowly woke up to the sound of children playing. He gave a few blinks and rubbed his eyes, getting the sleep out of them, too tired to think about it. He looked down and did see children playing, human children, playing what he guess was...

_I... don't know..._

He watched them, seeing one being "It" and having to chase the others until he touches someone, who that person who was touched has to freeze for ten seconds, so the old "It" can have enough time to run away, then become the new "It." He then saw one child trip another, causing him to get touched by "It."

"Hey! That's not how you play Tag your cheater!"

Len blinked. Tag... that was the name... seemed like a proper name to him, and fairly simple. He continued to watch them enjoying themselves for about an hour, some sort of warmth coming to his chest at the thought of him clearing out the Mavericks in the area so they could be safe.

_It's just my programming... but..._

He gave a small smile, seeing one child help another up from tripping over themselves.

_I guess I'll enjoy this feeling when it comes... it's really.... "enjoyable?"_

Could a machine feel joy? Sorrow, despare, happiness? Could a machine cry? His thoughts were interrupted by a woman's voice calling out.

"O.k you guys! Come get lunch!"

Lunch... the very word caused a pain in his stomach area... which was strange, since Reploids did not eat... but something told him to get food. To get his mind off of this, he turned to see who had called the kids. It was a female Reploid. Her body looked human, a paper thin armor plate on her fairly large chest and had on a skirt. Her arms and legs and a bit thicker armor on them, but seemed soft to the touch. The color of them were pink. She did not have a helmet on, showing off her neck length brown hair.

Len stared at her, then watched her give out lunches to the human children. He sniffed, smelling the food from where he was at, making that familiar pain come back. He grunted, holding his stomach, clutching his cloak. He looked up and saw what looked like a hot dog vendor, run by itself. Len brought a hand on his chin, thinking for a second, then looked at his finger, a single wire coming out... could he...?

He jumped down onto the grass, staying behind the tree so he wouldn't spook the kids, then causally walked over to the machine. Some people and other Reploids saw him and whispered to themselves.

"Who is that?"

"A Maverick, maybe?"

"He looks like one..."

"No, no... his body armor is like a Maverick HUNTER'S. So he's probably a hunter."

"Maybe... but it seems like he's not causing trouble..."

"Maybe he's new to the City? I mean, that cloak..."

"Or maybe he has some damage he's embarrassed to show because of those missiles Sigma sent off? Ever thought of that?"

Len ignored them and went over to the machine. When he felt like no one was watching, he put his hand beside it, sending a wire out to touch the machine, digging into it. In a few seconds, the machine gave out 20 hot dogs, plain without anything on them. He put them in a bag and went to a bench, fairly close to the children so he could watch them. It brought him a sense of peace for some reason, including the warmth...

Len placed the bag beside him, then picked up the first hot dog. He paused at first, looking at the meat and bun... something told him to eat it, not including the pain in his stomach, so he took a bite out of it...

And it tasted SO good to him...

He gave a blink, taking another bite and swallowing, feeling the food starting to fill his stomach. He began to eat faster, enjoy the... flavors?.... of the food when he felt a tug on his cloak. He turned, seeing a young boy.

"'Scuse me, sir... but... could I have some, too? My food fell in an ant hill..."

Len looked at him for a moment, then looked around... he saw an open lunch box with fire ants crawling all over it.

_... He doesn't have a lunch..._

He reached over and grabbed two fresh hot dogs, handing them to the child.

"Here you go..."

The boy quickly took the hot dogs.

"Thank you, mister!"

He ran off to the group, starting to eat the food he had given him.

"Well, I... definitely didn't expect to see you here..."

He turned around... and saw Alia standing behind him, carrying two large bags of groceries. He quickly flinched, keeping an eye on her. She glanced at him, giving a small smile.

"That was really nice of you, giving some of your food to him..."

"....... yeah........"

He turned back around, setting his food in the bag on the ground. Alia slowly walked around and, cautiously, sat next to him, setting her groceries on the ground. He glanced over at the food in her bags.

"...... So... it's.... normal for a.... Reploid to eat food?"

This felt too strange for him... but delt with it as he took a bit of a fresh hot dog. Alia shook her head.

"Oh, no... it's... not good for a Reploid to eat food. This here is for the human soldiers to eat for the day. There aren't many, but they still need to eat."

She crossed her legs and placed her hands on her knees, leaning back a bit.

"I usually end up cooking them food, since they are busy till lunch, and it will take them too long to make it and eat it in the break..."

She gave a giggle.

"Zero actually some times helps... but he's REALLY horrible at it... one time, one of the chilis he made tasted really good to the soldiers, but after a bowl of it, they all either ran to the bathroom or the trash receptor, getting sick. It was then that Zero said, and I quote-"

She tried to mimik Zero's voice the best she could.

"Hmm. Maybe I made it too spicy. After all, it did eat through the other two pots while I was cooking it."

Len actually gave a smile, even HE knew that wasn't a good thing. He looked down at her bags and saw some beef, celery, and other things.

"Are you... making beef stew for them this time?"

Alia gave a nod.

"Yes, I am. You know... if you came around... I could make you some with the soldiers at HQ..."

Len looked away from her, toward the children, silent for a few minutes, eating a bit. But the thought of eating beef stew made his stomach rumble, wanting more then hot dogs...

"That... might not be wise for me... why are you even here talking to me? Aren't I your enemy?"

Alia gave a sigh, looking over to him.

"That's yet to be determined... when you attacked the Reploids in that factory, we later found out they were indeed Mavericks. And when you were in HQ, Zero and X attacked first... you had every right to defend yourself..."

"You didn't have that opinion when I last saw you..."

She shifted a little, watching the children play.

"Well... we weren't exactly expecting you coming in..."

Len glanced up at the sky, seeing a mechanical bird fly past. Alia took this chance to look at him, fully from head to toe. He really did look like a Maverick Hunter with the shape of his armor... but the color of it, black, was unusual. And his eyes made him look like a machine... yet it gave some sort of shine in the sunlight, making him seem more then what his looks let on...

"You know... when you left, we checked the disk out some more, some hidden parts of it."

Len looked over to her, his look giving Alia a shiver.

"Hidden.... parts?"

She gave a nod, glancing at a nearby clock for the time.

"Yes, some data hidden under the data on top of the disk, then some on the top of it."

He looked in front of him, thinking... he hadn't read anymore then what was first revealed, basicly knowing what they knew...

".... How are those two...?"

Alia thought for a moment, it WAS a long night, thanks to Len.

"They are already back on duty. They were just out of energy, like you said... how do you do it, absorbing a Reploid's.... only their energy?"

Len was silent, debating whether or not to tell her. After a minute if silence, he rose his arm, a single wire coming out, kind of looking like a snake, but without a head, some wires slightly sticking out of the end of it. Alia stiffened at the sight of it, eyeing it.

"... I am able to suck the energy out of a machine and change the coding in it, also letting me copy some data from it. That is how I was able to gain X's buster and now have Zero's skill with a saber,including my own..."

He looked up, remembering what he had delayed to do until today.

"And... with that, I should go..."

He stood up, crumpling the empty food bag and tossing it into the nearest trash can. Just as he began to walk forward, and before Alia could stop him, two object landed on both sides of him.

"STOP!"

"Don't move!"

X and Zero where at Len's left and right, both pointing their busters at him. Alia shot up with her hand out.

"Wait! I... I was-"

Len glared back at her, making her freeze in place.

"You were just delaying me... weren't you?"

"Wh-what?"

"Stalling for time while Zero and X gets here... I've seen you looking at the time..."

She was shaking her head, stricken by the blame he was putting on her...

"N-no..."

He turned away from her, looking at Zero and X... then to the children, starting to run away in a panic. He closed his eyes...

_Now is the best time to get that weapon... and away from the children..._

He then disappeared, making both Zero and X start.

"Wh-where'd he go!?"

Zero looked up, pointing his buster with his sight.

"Up there!"

Len was floating in the air, thrusters shooting out of the bottom of his feet. When X saw him, both of them began to fire at him. He dodged the shots and flew back in the air, flying away. Zero dashed after him.

"C'mon, X!"

X was about to follow when he stopped, hearing a whimper. He looked back... seeing a child against a tree, gulping and crying. He stared at the kid, eyes wide.

_Did.... did he run because... he didn't want to involve the innocent?_

He started, remembering Zero. He turned... but didn't see him.

"Damn... Alia! We need to get back to HQ so we can find Zero! Come on!"

Alia picked up her groceries and followed X...

_*******_

Len landed on top of a roof, then jumped in the air again, avoiding a blast from Zero's buster.

"You won't get away from me!!!"

Len scowled, forming his right arm into a buster, charging a shot. He turned and fired a thick beam, making it fire in a curve so it wouldn't go in a building. Zero dashed to the side, still following him.

"I know X's attack! Don't copy his move!"

Len glared at him... but...

"Fine..."

He was a blur, dashing from one side to another, charging anotehr shot. This time, the wires in his arm began to glow with the charge. He then appeared exactly above Zero, his buster out, but so was his hand, which was flat.

"Meteor Rain!"

Zero's eyes grew wide from shock as he saw what looked like a dark abyss form above him.

"Wh-what IS this!?"

He gasped, seeing giant orbs of purple energy shooting down from it, looking like comets, the size of a person. Zero began to dash away, trying to avoid the comets. One the grazed him on his arm, literally melting the armor on it. He tripped and slid toward the edge of a building, then fell off. He caught the edge with his unharmed hand, his injured arm hanging by his side. He grunted as he saw that the wall of that building had been blown off, either by Len's attack, or by Sigma's missiles, it wasn't sure... He struggled, trying to get back up without a wall and with one arm. He froze when he heard something land at the edge, slowly looking up to see Len, glaring down at him, his right arm still in the buster form while his hand was out, but was sparking... the orbs of energy had frozen in place in the air, Len clearly in control of if they fell or not, the dark abyss still over head, lightning traveling cross it with a quiet sound.

Zero looked down... seeing they were 15 stories high, a high enough drop to severly hurt him or worse, then looked back up, not knowing what to do. Then the edge began to crack... then broke. He began to fall, closing his eyes, preparing himself for the drop... then he stopped falling. He opened his eyes... and saw Len, holding his hand with his, struggling to hold him and controlling his attack at the same time. Zero stared at him in shock... there he was, saving him while he himself tried to kill him!

".... Why....?"

Len gave a grunt, trying to lift him.

"Apparently... you did not hear be before...."

He began to lift him up, then dragged him onto the roof, sitting next to him, his attack finally fading and his arm turning back to normal. He was panting, a leg bent up, looking forward.

"I... don't kill Reploids.... or humans..."

Zero was laying on his back, keeping his arm still, giving a glance at Len.

"What... exactly ARE you...?"

Len let out a puff of air... then gave a shrug.

"Don't know."

He turned to Zero, who gave a start.

"You probably know better then I do..."

His face actually had a human-like expression on it for once. Zero stared at him for a moment, then gave a smile.

"You... are one strange Maverick Hunter... you know that?"

Len gave a nod, then started, turning to his left, his face back being expressionless. He saw a group of regular Reploids on the roof next to the building they were on, half of them holding busters while the other half had what looked like electric clubs. At first, they just stood there, then they began to point their weapons at them and get closer... Zero started to get up, then grunted from his arm. Len stood up in front of him, his back toward him.

"Keep down and still. Some of the inside of your arm were also melted with your armor. I'll handle them."

He looked up at him in disbelief.

"How are you going to fight them!? You're tired just as I am!"

Len actually gave a smile, bending down on the roof, his right hand flat on the ground..

"I still have a weapon I needed to get..."

"Wha?"

Wires came out of his arm and dug into the roof, sparks starting to form around his hand and wires. Suddenly, a handle of thing popped up, a little less then a foot long. It had a red cloth wrapped around it so someone could keep their grip on it and hand a hand guard, which looked like just a piece of metal. Len placed his hand on the top of the handle, then stood up, the new weapon rising from the ground...

It was a huge sword. The hilt, right above the handle, had two round stone circles, looking like them could spin. The blade was about eight inches in depth, the whole thing looking like it was made of stone. The sword was about as long as Len was tall, the handle reaching his forehead.

Zero watched in awe... a sword, forming out of thin air? But... would a regular sword be enough to cut through metal, one that's made of stone?

Len put the sword on his shoulders, then twisted the handle, energy forming all around it, spinning from the blunt end of the sword down to the sharpened end, looking like a chain saw. He then dashed forward and into the air, landing on the other roof, turning his left arm into his buster. He slashed down on one Maverick, from the head down, then dashed to the next, cutting the head off of it with a single clean swipe. He bent his back, dodging fire from the next Maverick, pointing his buster at it and firing it, the blast about medium size, going through the Maverick's chest. He then leaped in the air, spinning while his sword was out, cutting through the next two, then slammed his sword onto the third, the impact from the sword hitting the ground causing the body to explode. The last Maverick swung down with a club, so Len locked weapons with it. He gave a battle roar, twisting the handle on his sword. The energy increased, reaching high in the sky. The Maverick stared in shock as the sword cut through his club like a chain saw would... then through him, a slash of energy shooting out right behind it, making the body explode... smoke covering the area...

"Zero!"

X stopped by Zero, making him jump. He gave a chuckle.

"Heh, you missed it, X..."

He blinked at Zero, slowly helping him up to his feet.

"Missed... what, Zero?"

He motioned toward the smoke... Len was walking toward them, his sword over his shoulder and the skin of his right cheek had burnt off, showing all of the right side of the metal skull, then red eye looking at them. They could watch the skin start to grow back to cover it.

"Missed the fighting of someone that could be like you... MegaMan X..."

_**End of Chapter Three...**_

(Note from Arther: With Zero's chili, I got it from Menolly5600. Just figured I would put that in, since it was him who had him say that in his story, which is not related to mine. Different times they are set in. Go ahead and read his chapter, if you like.)


End file.
